Familiar Faces with CHD and their Journey- Valerie Azlynn

How many kids have you heard about, who had to go through open-heart surgery at the age of 13? 

Did she survive? Well, she is ruling the hearts of people.

Famous for her role in the hit ‘Big Bang Theory’, she was born on November 25, 1980, in New London, Connecticut. 

Valerie Azlynn is a well-known American actresses who is famous for her marvelous work on and off the screen. She has been a part of many television shows and movies and many of us also know her from the famous TV comedy Sullivan & Son. But did you know there was a chance that we would have never seen her in the movies or in fact there was a small chance that she wouldn’t be alive right now? 

Shocked right?

At the age of 13, Valerie and her parents found out that she was suffering from an Atrial Septal Defect, a type of Congenital heart defect in which more blood flow is directed towards the lungs which can overfill the lungs and overwork the right side of the heart making it weak. At the age of 13, Valerie’s thoughts changed from being a fun-loving singer to whether she would survive or not, a carefree kid to whether she would be alive to fulfill her dreams or not. 

The options available with her were either to have a patch that would go through a vein and open up in her heart or have an open-heart surgery. At that time, she was not aware of any kid of her age having an open-heart surgery, the only people she knew with some kind of heart problem, were her and her 80-year-old aunt who had a heart procedure and her grandfather who died because of a heart attack. Since congenital means present from the birth, it did come to her mind that her grandfather might have also died because of the same reason as before the heart attack, he too didn’t have any heart condition which was the same as Valerie who was a healthy kid growing up.

At that time, the patch was not approved to be used universally, therefore Valerie and her parents had to wait for a few years before the news came that she would not get a patch and within days only her open heart surgery was done. Valerie in an interview said that she was in tension before the surgery but the people who were most afraid were her parents, as at that time they understood the reality of the situation better.

She also said in an interview “The physical pain after the procedure, it's rough. I mean, you're cut in half. Everything is working through a heart and lung machine, you're not really in control of your body anymore. The risk was low that I would die, but coming out of it and the rehabilitation, that I didn't have the awareness of, was tough”

Everyone sees success but no one looks at the struggle, no one looks at the problems faced by the person to achieve that success. She works with an NGO as a spokesperson, working towards donation for child surgery and also helping the kids, who are dealing with similar trauma or awkwardness due to their open-heart surgery. She is an inspiration for those kids, as well as for everyone else.

Sitting from the comfort of your homes, you can also make donation for child surgery for organizations like Genesis Foundation, who just like Valerie Azlynn, help kids in fighting with CHD by providing adequate financial support for surgeries.

-Contributed by Karan Mohanani